I am 28 years old, 5'4" and weight 121lbs. I also have a body fat of 19%. I look pretty healthy physically, but mentally...that's another story.
I exercise quite a bit, like I do an hour of cardio 6-7 days a week and burn on average 600 calories in an hour. I also do weights 2-3 times a week. Sometimes when I feel like I've eaten too much I'll burn about 500-700 calories to burn off the extra calories (even if I've only eaten an extra fruit or slice of bread). Sometimes I can exercise intensively everyday for a month without taking a day off.
I used to enjoy exercising, but now I feel like I HAVE to exercise or else I will get fat. I usually go for a run first thing in the morning. If I don't do it when I wake up I get really anxious and think about when I'm going to be able to exercise all day long.
Ok so I've been seeing a therapist for about 8 months for an eating disorder. I tend to eat about 1600 calories a day, which I think is pretty good. But apparently it's not enough for the amount of exercise I do. I am also very ridgit with my eating and only eat certain foods. My therapist tells me that I restrict a lot (I guess the types of food and not the calories). I think about food, and weight loss strategies, count calories, read fitness magazines. I also go on pro-ana websites. That's all I think about ALL DAY LONG.
I used to binge a lot at night on carbs (like 4 times a week for about a year), but I've managed to stop that behavior for about 4 weeks now. I thought that I would lose a lot of weight by cutting back on thousands of calories, but I only lost 3 lbs.
I have also been chewing and spitting food when I just want to take the food but I don't want to ingest all the calories. I also get very anxious before and after eating. Today I was crying so much when I was eating lunch. I know that this behavior is NOT normal. I love food so much, but I don't want to get fat. I wish I could lose weight but I don't know what else to do.
I have been very depressed and anxious for the past few months and I've been isolating myself a lot. I don't want to go out with friends, because I much prefer surfing the web for diets and weight loss info.
My therapist says I have an eating disorder, but I don't seem to fit the anorexia or bulimia requirements. What disorder could I have?